Podcast: Bridging the Digital Divide Across Rural America

This episode of the Building Local Power podcast focuses on the the importance of connectivity in rural America and the barriers to high-quality local investment. Hosted by Nick Stumo-Langer, the conversation includes and researchers from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Hannah Trostle and Christopher Mitchell. The group discuss a number of topics, including how electric cooperatives are changing the dynamics on who gets connectivity in the U.S. and the hurdles to rural connectivity. This includes the millions of federal dollars that go to large companies such as AT&T and Century Link instead of small, local providers or municipalities to invest in their own infrastructure.

"They're giving out billions of dollars and they're spending it on some of the worst products," says Mitchell. "You look at what AT&T is doing, AT&T is going to be getting $2.5 billion from the federal government to expand rural access. The speeds they are going to deliver, obsolete. The prices are $60 to $70 per month for this very slow service that has data caps. It's awful."

The Institute’s mission is to provide innovative strategies, working models and timely information to support environmentally sound and equitable community development. To this end, ILSR works with citizens, activists, policymakers

The Institute’s mission is to provide innovative strategies, working models and timely information to support environmentally sound and equitable community development. To this end, ILSR works with citizens, activists, policymakers and entrepreneurs to design systems, policies and enterprises that meet local or regional needs; to maximize human, material, natural and financial resources; and to ensure that the benefits of these systems and resources accrue to all local citizens.

Since 1974, ILSR has championed local self-reliance, a strategy that underscores the need for humanly scaled institutions and economies and the widest possible distribution of ownership.

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